City crews coming for highway weeds
Colorado Springs has responsibility on all state roads within city limits

Highway 24 between 8th and 31st streets is scheduled to get cleaned up and mowed this month, according to Colorado Springs Parks Maintenance Director Kurt
Schroeder.
Questions about the sightliness of the state highway came up at a meeting last week with Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and local elected officials,
although a clear definition of responsibility was not provided. County Commissioner/Westsider Sallie Clark asked Robert Torres, the regional CDOT director, if the
weeds would be cut along there soon. “Visitors see it,” she commented. Torres replied that the agency tries to mow three times a year, but complained that his region
is understaffed and “it's a challenge to stay on top of that stuff.”
Schroeder explained after the meeting that under a state statute the city has cleanup responsibility for state highways within city limits. “We try to get three, and shoot
for four, mowings a year,” he said. “A lot depends on how much things are growing.”
Before mowing an area, Schroeder said he puts out a request to the local Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful volunteer group, which comes in beforehand and picks up
trash there. This is what he expects to happen this month, he said.
City crews also spray the median to discourage weeds there, he pointed out.
Schroeder added that the previous time the city's segment of the highway was mowed was “probably September and October.” He was surprised to hear about
some tall weeds on the south side of the highway between 21st and 26th streets, but because the weeds appear to be dead he agreed that these might have just been
missed in the mowing last fall.